The Next 48 Hours…

Dorchester has seen it’s fair share of promising fighters over the years. Many of whom never made it to the big stage for a host of different reasons. Some may have traveled the wrong path or decided they couldn’t weather the financial hardship involved with training full time. Others decide to hang up the gloves for health reasons or to raise a family.

To climb the ranks in boxing or MMA requires a perfect storm of luck, discipline and a very strong support system. Most people would agree that tough neighborhoods breed great fighters. But the reasons behind this concept are often misinterpreted. You may get tested physically from time to time throughout the course of your life. But you’re seldom judged by your wins and loss column. You are more defined with how you pick yourself up to fight another day….it’s how you evolve.

It doesn’t matter if your Brownsville, Brockton, Lowell or Roxbury….heart cannot be taught in a gym. It comes from a realization that your mistakes are often just as valuable as your successes.

As Billy Traft proceeds through the next 48 hours of his life, every step he takes from weigh-in to his ring entrance @ the Boston Garden on Saturday night, he takes those steps with the full confidence that he has learned from his mistakes. His work ethic has been flawless and he has not made any excuses. His lessons have come from his parents and teachers, friend and foes alike. He’s learned it from his neighborhood, where it’s not taught that “everybody wins”. This neighborhood has taught him that there’s a winner and a loser and you have to decide which one you want to be.

When the bell rings on Saturday. Billy knows that he carries an entire neighborhood with him…including those Dot Rats that once laced them up. Names like Conway, Mannion, Burke, DeLuca, Grealish, McBride, Del Tufo, Piscopo, Barnes, Buckley and Dwyer.

Traft possesses all the intangibles…he decided to be a winner a long time ago. All he has to do is fight like a Dot Rat!

If you haven’t seen a boxing match at the Garden….you haven’t lived.

Come support a fellow Dot Rat, bring the family and go buy your tickets HERE.